People who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 have a significantly lower risk of developing more severe cardiovascular conditions linked to Covid-19 infection, a new study shows.
Only 20-40% of patients respond positively to immunotherapy, and these rates vary across different types of cancer. Researchers now identified five key factors that determine response and survival.
A new smartphone face-screening tool could help paramedics to identify stroke in seconds – much sooner and more accurately than is possible with current technologies.
Endoscopy is pivotal in diagnosing and managing ulcerative colitis. Recent technology advances allow for early cancer detection, precise disease assessment and targeted biopsies, improving diagnosis and monitoring. The following article takes a look at the latest advancements.
Researchers have developed a deep-learning model that predicts the transition from a normal cardiac rhythm to atrial fibrillation 30 minutes before onset, with an accuracy of around 80%.
A new detection tool is designed to contribute to improving tumour research and classification by identification and quantification of chromosomal instability in the nuclei of cancer cells.
Much like joints or blood vessels, the brain can be affected by calcifications. This can lead to neurodegenerative disease, but is not well studied. Now, researchers from Norway identified a gene that provides new insights.
A team of researchers has discovered a new method of measuring levels of cortisol directly from a blood sample - a significant step forward in diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of diseases.
Research reveals how a new mechanism could improve the efficiency of current treatments for diabetes. This may open up new ways of approaching metabolic diseases that are a global health problem.
Researchers in Singapore have developed an AI-based software to assist in the early detection of breast cancer. Using thermal imaging, the program assesses the malignancy of a tumour.
Chemotherapy against cancer can lead to the generation of senescent tumour cells, which can help the tumour survive. A new immunotherapy approach to eliminate these cells shows promise in animal models.
New research demonstrates how tiny nanomachines could greatly reduce bladder cancer by precisely targeting the tumour and attacking it with a radioisotope carried on their surface.
A powerful tool, but the need for human judgment remains: In an editorial published in PNAS Nexus, Monica M. Bertagnolli assesses the promise of AI and machine learning to study and improve health.
AI features for automation, integrated systems and more: the role of medical technology has never been as vital as today, and MedTech companies from Taiwan are putting their best foot forward to contribute. At the 2023 Medica trade fair, visitors of the Taiwanese pavilion not only had the opportunity to see the latest medical products on display, but also get acquainted with Taiwanese culture in…
Machine learning and AI are playing an increasingly important role in medicine and healthcare, and not just since ChatGPT. This is especially true in data-intensive specialties such as radiology, pathology or intensive care. The quality of diagnostics and decision-making via AI, however, does not only depend on a sophisticated algorithm but – crucially – on the quality of the training data.
Researchers from Finland have developed an artificial intelligence tool for automatic colorectal cancer tissue analysis that outperforms prior methods.
University of Basel scientists have discovered that high levels of the amino acid arginine drive metabolic reprogramming to promote tumor growth. This could lead to improved liver cancer treatment.
Scientists have designed an AI tool that can rapidly decode a brain tumor’s DNA to determine its molecular identity during surgery — critical information that can guide treatment decisions.
Most AI techniques for rare disease diagnosis use anthropometric measurements of European origins, ignoring the genetic and morphological diversity of humans, a new study finds.
US researchers have developed a way to use MRI scanning to map body cell metabolism, opening up new possibilities for detecting cancers and revealing if a tumor is responding to treatment.
Researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have developed a new type of nanoparticles inspired by the structure of amyloids, capable of neutralising the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
New advanced therapies can alleviate or cure chronic diseases. But medical progress, such as the gene editing tool CRISPR, raises the question of how rights should be protected and balanced.
New changes made to the timetable for the In vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulation (IVDR) across Europe could have a significant impact on manufacturers and users, an expert points out. While the extension of the transition period was a welcome step, other changes which were hoped for remain painfully absent.
Researchers in Barcelona discovered the population of residual tumour cells responsible for the recurrence of colorectal cancer in other organs after removal of the primary tumour.
Researchers from Barcelona report that vaccination with senescent cells shows promise in experimental models of melanoma and pancreatic cancer.
Researchers in Finland have identified that finger-like cellular extensions called filopodia contribute to building a barrier surrounding breast tumours.
Two-dimensional (2D) cultured cell lines and animal models have been the principal research tools for the past decade, but have several shortcomings. Three-dimensional cell cultures, or organoids, show great promise here.
Overweight increases the risk of an imbalance in sugar metabolism and even diabetes – but the opposite is also true: insulin production deficits contribute to overweight, a new study shows.
Researchers identify critical spots on the genome where gene editing could cause an unwanted response, and they provide recommendations for safer approaches.
Cancer immunotherapy is a successful treatment form in oncology, but it doesn't work for every patient. One problem may be the lack of a specific type of immune cell in the tumor, researchers found.
A Stanford mechanical engineer creates multifunctional wireless robots to maximize health outcomes and minimize invasiveness of procedures.
Clear ethical standards and guidance are needed for AI in health settings to protect the relationship of trust between doctors and patients and to safeguard human rights, according to a new report.
A method for delivering genetic material to the body that has proven useful in Covid-19 vaccination is now being tested as a way to repair damaged heart muscle after a heart attack.
Engineers developed a variable stiffness catheter made of nontoxic threads that can transition between soft and rigid states during surgery.
An ECRC research team has introduced CRISPR-Cas9 into human muscle stem cells for the first time using mRNA, thus discovering a method suitable for therapeutic applications.
The tool has made it possible to detect SARS-CoV-2 in exudate from symptomatic patients with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 87.5%
Nerve damage in multiple sclerosis can be detected via the concentration of neurofilament light chain in the blood. This could offer valuable information on future disease course and therapy effectiveness.
Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) develop a protocol to transplant 3D cellular structures that could regenerate damaged intestine.
Despite a five-year transition period for In-vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulation (IVDR), experts fear many actors in the field are still not prepared for the regulations coming into force.
Researchers at the University of Sussex are one step further to developing a blood test capable of diagnosing the most aggressive form of brain tumour.
By analysing secondary acute myeloid leukaemias, researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) Barcelona have detected mutations caused by platinum-based chemotherapies in cells that were healthy at the time of treatment. Treatment with chemotherapies influences the development of blood cells, favouring clonal hematopoiesis from cells with pre-existing mutations. The study has…
Cartilage cells from the nasal septum can not only help repair cartilage injuries in the knee, they can also withstand the chronic inflammatory tissue environment in osteoarthritis and even counteract the inflammation – according to researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel.
Some people change the narrative about technology and society. One of them is Nuria Oliver, Chief Data Scientist at Data-Pop Alliance, Chief Scientific Advisor at the Vodafone Institute, and Co-founder and Vice-president of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS). In an interview with HiE, she explains how she develops computational tools and uses artificial…
El laboratorio de Genómica Biomédica del IRB Barcelona (Institute for Research in Biomedicine) ha desarrollado un método computacional que identifica las mutaciones causantes del cáncer para cada tipo de tumor.
The Biomedical Genomics laboratory at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) Barcelona has developed a computational tool that identifies cancer driver mutations for each tumour type. This and other developments produced by the same lab seek to accelerate cancer research and provide tools to help oncologists choose the best treatment for each patient. The study has been published in the…
Using lab-created tissue to heal or replace damaged organs is one of the great visions for the future of medicine. Synthetic materials could be suitable as scaffolding for tissue because, unlike natural tissues, they remain stable in the organism long enough for the body to form new natural structures. A fundamental requirement for functional tissue is that blood vessels must be able to grow in…
Monash University researchers have provided a fundamental advance regarding how T cells become activated when encountering pathogens such as viruses.
Researchers have shown that the life expectancy of mices can be increased by an average of 30% in both males and females. For humans, that would means that a 90-year-old could live until nearly 120.
Researchers from Tel Aviv University have created an artificial intelligence platform that can identify the specific proteins that allow bacteria to infect the intestines.
The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Switzerland developed a second-generation ‘double antibody’ that protects from SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19, and all its tested variants. It also prevents the virus from mutating to resist the therapy. Antibody-based immunotherapy was already shown to be effective against Covid-19 but faces two main obstacles: it needs to work…
Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) have demonstrated that the CRISPR/Cas9 system is very effective in treating metastatic cancers, a significant step on the way to finding a cure for cancer.
Specialists from the Department of Fundamental Medicine of Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) with Russian and Japanese colleagues have probed into mechanisms of COVID-19 inside-the-body distribution linked to erythrocytes damaging.
A team of researchers lead by Helmholtz Zentrum München and the University of Würzburg identified an enzyme as a novel and strong inhibitor of ferroptosis, the iron dependent form of cell death: ferroptosis suppressor protein-1, short FSP1. This protein is expressed in a variety of cancer cell lines and therefore represents an attractive drug target for cancer treatment.
The key challenges and opportunities surrounding High-Content Screening have been outlined in a presentation to leading scientists and technologists at a major lab conference. Speaking at the recent SLASEurope 2019 event in Barcelona, Professor Matthias Nees from the Institute of Biomedicine in the Department of Biology at the University of Turku, Finland, outlined the potential of High-Content…
Scientists have developed minute flexible robots that could help revolutionise drug delivery in the future. These ‘microrobots’ are so small that they could be ingested, or inserted into human veins to deliver drug therapies directly to diseased body areas.
Advancing technology is allowing scientists increasingly to search for tiny signs of cancer and other health issues in samples of patients’ blood and urine. These “liquid biopsies” are less invasive than a traditional biopsy, and can provide information about what’s happening throughout the body instead of just at a single site. Now researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer…
It has long been thought that stress contributes to cancer progression. Scientists from the University of Basel and the University Hospital of Basel have deciphered the molecular mechanisms linking breast cancer metastasis with increased stress hormones.
It is non-invasive, delivers a chance of early diagnosis, prognostic information and sequential monitoring, and, believes Professor Francesco Salvatore, the enormous potential of liquid biopsies has still to be reached. However, the positive results obtained so far have ‘opened the door to a promising new multi-faceted group of tumour markers, at present collectively designated “liquid…
Monash University’s Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) researchers have identified a new mechanism used by Henipaviruses in infection, and potential new targets for antivirals to treat them. Their findings may also apply to other dangerous viruses.
LC/MS, i.e. the combination of liquid chromatography (LC) with mass spectrometry (MS) – an analytical method developed primarily for environmental analysis and live science – remains a keen topic in the medical laboratory. In recent European Hospital issues, we have outlined various reasons why this procedure is in increasingly popular in the medical lab. Here we continue with an interview…
While treatments for HIV mean that the disease is no longer largely fatal, the world still lacks a true therapy that can eradicate the virus across a globally—and genetically different—population.
A little-explored group of immune cells plays an important role in the regulation of intestinal bacteria. Changing metabolic states of the microbes have an effect on defense cells at different stages of alert or rest, as researchers from the Department of Biomedicine at the University and University Hospital of Basel report in the journal "Mucosal Immunology." It is known that the…
Princeton researchers have discovered that when water flows around long plastic fibers, the flexible fiber strands tangle like a plate of spaghetti. Instead of a muddled mess, however, this product is in fact a highly useful material known as a hydrogel. Investigated for half a century, hydrogels are increasingly finding uses in areas including artificial tissue engineering, sustained drug…
Scientists from the University of Würzburg give fascinating 3D-insights into the bone marrow, and successfully elucidated new details about the process of thrombocyte generation.
Arteriogenesis is a critical event – not only during development but also in adult life. Many Cardiovascular life-threatening events could be overcome by inducing the formation of new arteries. A team of scientists led by Ralf Adams from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine has developed a genetic approach in mice to uncover molecular mechanisms of arterial growth.
Scientists from the University of Würzburg successfully elucidated new details about a circuit regulating platelet biogenesis. These important findings could contribute to a better understanding of the mechanism leading to bleeding disorders.
Current advances such as phase-contrast CT are taking medical imaging further but their use in clinical practice may have to wait up to a decade, prominent physicist predicts.
Spanish researchers are challenging the validity of many past and ongoing clinical trials and stress the importance of working with raw or preprocessed data in genetic information study.
Certain white blood cells play an important role in bringing a harmful virus under control after kidney transplantations. The results of a research group at the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel could contribute to improving control of immunosuppression, avoiding transplant rejection and developing relevant vaccines.
Genetics stepping ahead as Spain-based researchers develop biomedical robots that can help in the study of rare diseases, neurodegenerative disorders and cancer, as well as the creation of orphan drugs.
Our knowledge of causes and mechanisms of current and future diseases is on ice – not the perpetual ice of the polar caps but artificial ice. It is stored in biobanks at -80 to -160 °C.
Scientists at the University of Basel discovered a fundamental new mechanism explaining the inadequate immune defense against chronic viral infection. These results may open up new avenues for vaccine development.
The Syndicat des Biologistes (SDB) and the Syndicat National des Biologistes des Hôpitaux (SNBH) are refounding the leading event in Medical Biology: the 60th edition of JIB and the 45th Colloque National des Biologistes will be held this year in Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Hall 4.
Humabs BioMed SA and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) affiliated to the Università della Svizzera italiana announced the identification, isolation and characterization of two Ebola virus neutralizing monoclonal antibodies from the blood of a survivor of an Ebola infection.
By using drug delivery vehicles, so-called nanocarriers, pharmaceuticals reach the diseased area in the body. There they accelerate the healing process. But in order to prevent them from getting ingested by phagocytes, the surfaces of the nanocarriers are typically coated with the biocompatible synthetic polymer poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Scientists at the Mainz University Medical Center and…
Systems biology allows the mathematical visualisation through graphs and networks of complex body processes such as disease development. The aim is to improve understanding processes and triggers of diseases, so as to access and repair a damaged network. ‘We are still approaching this issue with a lot of naivety and underestimate the complexity of biological systems, and therefore of…
The field is neither tedious nor monotonous; it’s fascinating every day, Professor Katharina Rentsch emphasises, when explaining the need to attract students to this often overlooked but intreguing and varied discipline.
Danish researchers from the University of Copenhagen have discovered what controls the enzyme that aids the growth of cancer tumours. These findings could be of great value to cancer treatments and has just been published in the renowned journal, Nature Communications.
New, ultra-high-field magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the brain by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago provide the most detailed images to date to show that while the brain shrinks with age, brain cell density remains constant.
Several EPFL laboratories are working on devices allowing constant analysis over as long a period as possible. The latest development is the biosensor chip, created by researchers in the Integrated Systems Laboratory working together with the Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Group. Sandro Carrara is unveiling it today at the International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) in Lisbon.
Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the UAB Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine discovered that the signalling route triggered by the ATM protein regulates DNA repair during the production of spermatocytes by meiosis, the cell division process which yields spermatozoa.
Susanne Werner reports on the views and revelations of international researchers gathered to deliberate the future potential of reprogrammed human adult stem cells and personalised medical treatments
The part of bacterial DNA that often carries antibiotic resistance is a master at moving between different types of bacteria and adapting to widely differing bacterial species, shows a study made by a research team at the University of Gothenburg in cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology. The results are published in an article in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
The UK’s Babraham Institute, which conducts biomedical research, has established a ‘high throughput’ epigenomics sequencing facility to improve understanding of healthier ageing.
The Research Institute of the Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron (IR-HUVH) in Barcelona is the first Spanish health centre to acquire the Genome Sequencer FLX System from 454 Life Sciences, a Roche company. This new high-performance sequencing system improves the productivity and precision of genome sequencing at IR-HUVH.
When a cerebral aneurysm ruptures, mortality is high and survivors often suffer stroke-like long-term disabilities. However, some aneurysms remain stable and never rupture. Surgical and endovascular interventions are possible, but not without risk.
The Centre for Medical Imaging Ruhr (zmb ruhr) in Bochum offers the technological infrastructure for the development of therapeutic and diagnostic imaging procedures. The primary focus is on ultrasound — the most commonly used imaging procedure in Germany, delivering the highest volume of examinations.
Siemens Healthcare is working on diagnostic tests for early detection and characterziation of a patient's tumor cells. The Cologne laboratories for molecular diagnostics especially concentrate on the research of breast cancer, a disease that still is number one cause of death among women. The results should help to adapt a customized therapy to the individual patient.